Get Real November 16 Devotional
November 16, 2024
JOHN 1:1-5, 14 | 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
The United States has struggled to understand and discuss yesterday’s message! The separation of church and state becomes particularly hard to apply in public education. Most public schools and teacher training programs insist that classrooms be neutral spaces when it comes to religious questions. But as we saw yesterday, values guide every basic human enterprise and perspective and values can’t be separated from worldviews. Neutral ground can never be found, since there is no value free education.
For Christians, the search for value free thinking is not only illogical but unnecessary. God has spoken in the person of Jesus, introducing ultimate reality into the frayed landscape of human difference, and overcoming the limitations of relativism. For us, there will be debates about the meaning and significance of Jesus’ words, but not about their unique authority. He is the Word made flesh, and the teacher par excellence, never to be surpassed or superseded. In a relativistic world this is good news.
Do you think today’s meditation makes life easier or harder for Christian teachers in public settings?
Pray for Christian believers working in secular settings.
